Punching and marking machine



' May 5, 1936.. A LAWSON 39321 PUNCHING AND MARKING MACHINE Filed April16, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet l 3 Sheets-Shae; 2

A. A. LAWSON PUNCHING AND MARKING MACHINE Filed p il 16, 19:54

illllll M May 5, 13.936.

7 May .5, W36, A. A. LAWSON PUNCHING AND MARKING MACHINE 3 Shssts-Sheet'3 Filed April 16, 1934 Patented May 5, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEAxel A. Lawson,

Beverly, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson,N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 16, 1934, SerialNo. 720,701

2 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for operating upon shoe part blanksand is herein illustrated as embodied in a machine for punching andmarking soles.

In the manufacture of shoes the soles of which are secured to the upperby adhesive it is common practice in locating the sole relatively to theupper to place along the marginal portions of the sole a coating ofadhesive to form part of the means for securing the sole to the upper.This coating of adhesive ordinarily should not extend rearwardly by anappreciable distance beyond the breast line of the sole in order that itwill not interfere with the positioning of the shoe relatively to gagedevices in the heel-seat fitting operation which is performedsubsequently to the sole-attaching operation. It is therefore customaryto mark upon the sole the approximate location of the breast line priorto the application of the adhesive in order to determine the limitsbeyond which the adhesive should not be applied.

In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the invention to provideimproved mechanism for placing upon a sole marks in predeterminedposition relatively to an end thereof to indicate the breast line of thesole. Preferably and as illustrated, this mechanism comprises a worksupport, a gage for positioning a sole upon the support and a markingdevice mounted for reciprocation relatively to the support, togetherwith means for 10- eating the marking device along the support inposition to mark the sole at the breast line thereof.

In attaching the sole to the upper by means of one type of machine whichis extensively employed use is commonly made of a mechanism comprising amember adapted to enter a gage hole in the heel portion of the sole inlocating the sole relatively to the upper prior to forcing the soleagainst the upper under pressure. The gage hole referred to ispreferably located along a median line of the heel portion of the soleand. is usually punched in the sole at a point near the center of theheel-seat portion. Since the operation of punching the sole and themarking operation above referred to are both performed prior to theattachment of the sole to the upper I propose to combine the twooperations, thus to reduce the number of separate operations required.To this end the marking device and a punch are preferably mounted upon amember arranged for reciprocation relatively to the work support so thatthe punching and marking operations upon a sole can be performedsimultaneously.

Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing detailed description when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings and will be pointed out in the claims. 5

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a machine constructed in accordance withone embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly in section of the 10 machine;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a sole showing a punched hole and breastmarks resulting from an operation of the machine;

Fig. 4 is an exploded view illustrating the 15 punching and markingdevice;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the marker;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing mechanism for adjusting theposition of the marker;

Fig. '7 is a perspective View illustrating a modi- 20 fied form of apunching and marking machine in which the sole is gaged from theforepart; and

Fig. 8 is a view partly in section illustrating an alternative form ofmechanism for adjusting the marker. The machine illustrated in Figs. 1and 25 2 is particularly adapted for use in punching and marking soleblanks such as blank Ill (Fig. 3) to produce therein a gage hole I2 inthe heel portion of the blank and marks or indentations I4 atpredetermined distances from the heel-end portion of the blank toindicate the approximate breast line of the sole beyond which themarginal coating of adhesive l5 should not extend in a rearwarddirection.

The machine comprises a C-shaped frame I6 having an extension I8 inwhich is mounted a plunger 20 carrying a punch 22 and a marking device24 arranged to be reciprocated relatively to a work support 26 by meansof a shaft 28 and pin 30. The punch 22 which is positioned in a bore 32in the plunger 20 is arranged to cooperate with a female die member 36mounted in an opening 38 in the work support 26.

For locating a sole, such as sole Ill, relatively to the punch there isprovided gage mechanism comprising a plate 40 adapted to be engaged bythe heel portion of the sole. The gage plate 58 is mounted for slidingmovement along the upper surface of the support 26 and can be adjustedlaterally of the punch by means of a knob 42 slidably mounted upon a pin44 carried by the plate and normally forced toward the plate 4!! by aspring 46. The pin 44 extends upwardly through a slot 48 in a fixedplate 50 which overlies the plate 40, and the knob 42 can be selectivelylocated in any one of several positions in the slot for locating thegage plate 40 in position to engage the heel end of a sole at selectedpredetermined distances from the center line of the punch, thus toinsure that the gage hole is punched approximately at the middle of theheel seat in soles of different sizes, or for shoes of dif ferentstyles. The plate 50 has an extension 52 which overlies the die member36 and has an opening 54 therein to permit the punch to operate upon asole which has been brought into engagement with the gage plate 40. Theplate 50 thus acts as a stripper plate to prevent the sole from risingfrom the work support as the punch is withdrawn.

The work support 26 is provided with a nose 56 which extends beyond theforward portion of the support and is beveled as indicated by referencecharacter 58 to provide clearance for the heel breast leaf 6!] of thesole, which is bent toward the forepart of the sole out of the line ofoperation of the punch. The construction referred to makes it possibleto locate the sole flat upon the work support in position to be operatedupon by the punch and marking device 24.

Means is provided for locating sole blanks in such manner that themedian line of the heel-end portion thereof is positioned along the worksupport 26 and intersects the center line of the punch 22. As shown,this is accomplished by means of two pairs of gages 62 and 64 (Fig. 1).The gages 62 comprise arms 66 which are adapted to engage a blank alonga heel-end portion thereof rearwardly of the punch 22. These arms areivotally mounted at 68 upon the work support 26 and have integraltherewith interengaging arms I so arranged that the gages 62 will becaused to move by equal distances inwardly or outwardly of the centerline of the work support. The gages 62 are normally forced inwardly by aspring-pressed plunger I2 (Fig. 2) which engages a portion of one of thearms 10. The gages 64 constitute forepart gages and comprise arms I4which are pivoted at I6 upon a bracket 18 secured to the frame I6 andhave interengaging arm portions 80 likewise adapted to cause equalmovement of the gages 64 inwardly or outwardly of the center line of thework support 26. The gages 64 are normally forced inwardly by means of aspring 82, inward movement being limited by a set screw 84 which engagesone of the arm portions 80. The gage mechanism just described makes itpossible readily to locate a sole upon the work support 26 with thecenter line of the heel portion of the sole located for operativeposition by the punch, it being necessary only to force the soleinwardly between the gages 64 and the gages 62 until the heel-endportion of the sole contacts with the gage plate 40.

The marking device 24, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, comprises a shank 86which is secured to the plunger 20 by screws 88 which extend throughopenings 90 in the marking device into openings 92 in the end portion ofthe plunger 20, there being a groove 94 in the plunger adapted toreceive portions of a projection 96 on the shank 86 of the markingdevice for holding the parts in rigid position. The shank 86 is providedwith a bore 98 having positioned therein a plunger I00 which carries abracket I02 constituting a support for a marker I04. Surrounding theplunger I00 is a spring I06 which tends normally to force the bracketand marker downwardly yieldingly to apply pressure to the marker upondescent of the plunger 20, thus providing for the operation of themarker upon soles of difierent thicknesses. The bracket I02 has ways I08adapted to support the marker I04 which has projecting portions IIO(Fig. slidably engaging the ways, whereby the marker may be moved in adirection paral- 5 lel to the center line of the work support 26. Themarker itself is provided with two spaced knife edges H2 which extendtransversely of the work support and which are suitable for producingmarks or indentations such as indenta- 10 tions I4 in a blank I0 (Fig.3). Extending laterally from the knife edges is a projection I I 4 whichis slidable along the under surface of one of the ways I08. Thisprojection is provided with a beveled portion II6 which serves as apointer to indicate the position of the marker along a scale I I8(Fig. 1) carried upon one side of the bracket I02.

The marker I04 is arranged for movement manually along the ways I08 bymeans of a screw I 20 (Figs. 1, 4 and 6) positioned in the bracket I02and having two shoulders I22 between which is positioned one arm I24 ofa bell crank lever I26 mounted upon a pivot I28 in the bracket. The bellcrank lever has an end portion I30 located in a slot I32 in the side ofthe marker I04 opposed to the pointer H6. Upon rotation of the screw I20the bell crank lever is moved angularly thereto to adjust the positionof the marker along the ways I08. To hold the marker in fixed positionthere is provided a set screw I34 adapted to prevent rotation of thescrew I20. The scale H8 is marked arbitrarily with divisions so thatafter the setting of the marker has once been determined for a sole ofgiven size, the marker subse- 35 quently can be readily positioned foroperation upon soles of that size. Thus it will be seen that the markercan be located at predetermined distances, dependent upon the size ofsoles being operated upon, from the gage thereby to deter- 40 mine thelocation of the marks relative to the heel end of the sole. Themechanism just described thus provides comparatively simple adjustmentfor the marker for different sizes of soles.

In order to prevent the operator from placing his fingers in alinementwith the work-supporting and marking devices upon insertion of a blankin the machine there is provided a safety plate I36 (Fig. 1) which isspaced from the frame extension I8 by collars I38 and secured in a rigidposition to the extension by screws I40 extending through the collars.The lower end portion of the plate extends downwardly to within a shortdistance of the work support 26.

In the operation of the machine, the marker I04 is positioned along thescale H8 at a predetermined point corresponding to the size of the soleto be operated upon. The sole is then placed upon the work support 26forcing it between the gages 62 and 64 until the heel end contacts thegage plate 40 thus to locate the sole longitudinally and laterally ofthe punch 22 and marker I04. Upon operation of the plunger 20 the punchwill produce a gage hole approximately in 65 the center of the heelseat, and the marker will produce indentations in the sole locatedapproximately at the breast line.

Figs. '7 and 8 illustrate a modified form of punching and markingmachine provided with gage mechanism for locating soles so that the gagehole and indentations will be made at predetermined distances from thetoe end of the sole. The illustrated machine adapted for this purposecomprises a frame I42, a work support I44, a

1 between the two sizes.

plunger I46, punch I41, a stripper plate I48, forepart gages I58, heelend gages I52, and a marker I54, similar in construction tocorresponding parts of the machine illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

In this instance the marker I54 is mounted in ways I56 carried by thelower end of a plunger I58 and is arranged for longitudinal adjustmentby means of a screw I66, which makes threaded engagement with the markerand is operated by a knurled nut I62, longitudinal movement of the screwitself being prevented by a shoulder I64 thereon, and the nut itselfwhich engage opposite sides of a plate I66 secured to the lower end ofthe plunger I58. The marker I54 has a pointer I68 which is slidablealong a scale I10 upon the side of the lower end of the plunger I58. Thescale I10 may be marked with three divisions which correspond to thedifferent styles of shoes to which soles are to be attached. The scaleprovides for the adjustment of the marker to accommodate for a variationin the distance of the breast line due to the particular heel used uponthe shoe. For example, it is desired to mark the breast line on a soleto be used with a Louis heel much further forwardly than for a Cubanheel. This adjustment of the marker can be readily accomplished by meansof the nut I62.

In order to position soles so that the breast line will be indicated atthe correct points regardless of the size of the sole, there is provideda gage in the form of a plate I12 adapted to be located at predetermineddistances corresponding to different sizes of soles from the center lineof the punch I41 and the marker I54 in one of its adjusted positions.The gage I12 has integral therewith a split collar I14 which is slidablealong a rod I16 supported by ears I18 and I86 extending from one side ofthe work support I44. The collar I14 is provided with a clamping screwI82 for securing the plate I12 in adjusted position along the rod I16.The collar I14 also carries a pointer I84 for use in setting the gageplate in predetermined position along a scale I86 marked upon the rodI16. Each scale division corresponds to the distance which thebreastline moves forwardly in advancing from one size of sole to thenext larger size plus a correction necessitated by the increase inlength of the sole The collar I18 carries a clamping screw I88 by whichthe gage rod can be clamped in position with the scale I86 properlylocated relatively to the center line of the punch.

The position of the rod can readily be ascertained by placing upon thework support I44 a sole upon which the breast line is marked,positioning the sole with the marker in alinement with the breast mark,setting the gage plate I12 with the pointer I84 on the division of thescale I86 which corresponds to the size of the sole, then sliding therod rearwardly until the gage plate I12 engages the end of the sole. Therod may then be clamped into position by the screw I88 and the scale I86will be properly set for all sizes of soles. The machine is providedwith a safety plate I96 corresponding to the plate I36 of Fig. 1 buthaving a slot I92 in the lower part thereof through which the nut I62extends.

In the operation of the machine, after adjusting the marker I54 along ascale I16 in accordance with the style of shoe and after setting thegage plate I12 to correspond to the size of sole to be operated upon,the sole is placed upon the work support I44 between the gage arms I58and I52 and is then brought forwardly until the end of the sole engagesthe gage plate I12. The plunger I46 is then operated to cause downwardmovement of the punch and marker to punch a gage hole and produce breastmarkindentations in the sole which will be in predetermined positionupon the forward end of the sole.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A machine for operating upon soles comprising a work support, amember mounted for reciprocation relative to the support, aspringpressed plunger carried by said member and having at its lower enda plurality of ways, a marking device mounted for movement in the ways,a scale upon one of the ways, and a pointer on the marking device forindicating the position thereof along the scale.

2. A machine for operating upon soles comprising a work support, amember mounted for reciprocation relatively to the support, aspringpressed plunger carried by said member and having a plurality ofways at one end thereof, a marker mounted for sliding movement in theways, and means for adjusting the position of the marker in the ways.

AXEL A. LAWSON.

